MC News

Maryville College's Good Wood

An environmental benefit of this plan is that Maryville College
is using waste from local companies; this waste does not get dumped
in a landfill. Anderson Truss Company sells their remnant lumber
pieces to the college for $15 per ton. If Anderson Truss were to
take the waste to the landfill, it would cost them $35 per ton for
disposal, McCall explains.

Another local vender, Waste Reduction and Recycling, is paid by
local businesses to remove their old wooden shipping crates and
pallets. After grinding the wood, the vender then sells it to the
college as well.

McCall says, "It's a win-win-win situation: the wood waste
doesn't go to the landfills, the venders make money, and the operating
cost for the college is less than buying gas."

And speaking of cost: When TVA proposed the project, part of the
purpose was to provide a cheaper, cleaner energy source. TVA said
it would bring savings to the college. McCall says he spends $40,000
to $50,000 per year on wood waste. In the early '90s the college
experienced a shortage of wood waste and had to turn on the gas.
The cost for one month of burning gas was about $20,000, he says.

McCall admits today's prices may be different. "I may be sitting
here with a very expensive system, but I have no proof of that.
Using wood still means savings," McCall says.

Burning wood does have extra costs, however. For example, a skidsteer
loader must be used to load the wood waste into the plant's furnace.
A pipe is all that is needed for gas or oil. But he says that labor
costs are the same for gas, oil or wood: someone must be working
no matter which is used. "In my mind, there's no reason why
the savings aren't still there," he says.